


establishing a diplomatic rapport

by wafflelate



Series: Mist POVs [2]
Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Grass Chuunin Exams, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 07:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18751885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflelate/pseuds/wafflelate
Summary: Haku comes back from dinner in the genin mess the first night at the Grass exams and mentions a name Terumi Mei doesn't recognize.





	establishing a diplomatic rapport

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Niyuu_Trickster_Kat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niyuu_Trickster_Kat/gifts).



Zabuza and Mei have completed their introductions and secured the living quarters provided for the Kiri contingent by the time Chōjūrō, Haku, and the twins get back. Yoro and Shiku both look exhausted — it had been a long trip, and the twins have never been outside of Land of Water before — while Chōjūrō looks... disquieted. Not like something bad has happened, though, so Mei doesn’t call him on it. If it’s important, he’ll bring it up. 

“Do we have bunk beds?” Yoro asks. 

Shiku says, “I call dibs on the top bunk!” 

“You _always_ get the top bunk.” 

There are no bunk beds, in fact — most ninja don’t like to be constricted, prevented from standing up quickly. Mei refuses to sleep on any bed she can’t also stand on top of in a fight. The twins’ comfort with bunk beds is a product of their upbringing in the Kiri foster system. One of the many, many pieces of infrastructure that needs a complete overhaul. 

Mei watches Chōjūrō attempt to diffuse the childish argument, making no move to help because Chōjūrō has to learn personnel management _somehow_ and squabbling eight-year-olds sounds perfect to Mei, but for all her distraction she absolutely doesn’t miss the way Haku slinks over to Zabuza. 

“Naruto-kun is alive,” Haku mummers to his teacher, touching Zabuza briefly on the shoulder. 

And that’s... _interesting_. 

Maybe she could learn more information by sitting out of it, but Zabuza just gives a tight nod and says nothing, so it seems it’s up to Mei to overturn this anthill. 

“‘Naruto’?” she asks, saying the name carefully, feeling the shape of the word. ‘Fishcake’... “A second student, Zabuza?” 

She’d hate to think that he’s holding out on her, but it wouldn’t be the first time. He’d hidden Haku’s existence from her for _years_ — he had never, in fact, admitted it, only not contradicted him when she’d referenced his new ‘partner’ after reading a report about him taking a second hunter-nin mask. She hadn’t even learned Haku’s name until he’d arrived in Land of Water following Gatō Corp’s capitulation to the Rebellion’s demands. 

Even now, it’s hard not to think about how Haku isn’t one of hers, not really a ninja of Kirigakure. His every movement screams it — when Mei looks to Haku for more information, Haku looks to Zabuza for direction instead of immediately volunteering information on whoever ‘Naruto’ is. A foreign ninja, certainly, because Mei knows the name of every captured Kiri ninja that they’ve got even half a shot at recovering from enemy prison, and she’d have remembered a name like _Fishcake_. 

“He’s not a student,” Zabuza scoffs. “He’s no one.” 

Mei raises her eyebrows at him. “I am your Mizukage.” He’d laid down Kubikiribōchō on the beach, taken a knee, and sworn himself to her. 

Zabuza’s mouth is a thin line. “He’s a Leaf nin, but he’s not anyone _important_.” 

In her peripheral vision, she notices Chōjūrō ushering the twins out of the room, saying they should investigate the bunk bed situation. 

“Important enough for you to care that he’s alive,” Mei says. There’s only so far she can push, because they’re at a foreign exam and can’t afford any kind of scandal, but she doesn’t think she’s at the limit yet. 

“He’s a _genin_.” 

“He was promoted at the last exam,” Haku mutters helpfully. 

Mei quits her relaxed pose and leans forward on the couch. “Did you run into a Leaf honeypot?” 

It could be very, very bad if he did. Zabuza is undoubtedly loyal to Kiri, and has done things for the village that even Mei’s not sure she could have done... but that doesn’t mean he can’t be some shade of compromised. Cliffs don’t fall to the sea because of just one wave. 

Zabuza sputters. “ _No_.” 

Haku actually laughs, so Mei turns to look at him. He gives her a secretive smile. “I really think it’s shishō’s role to inform you,” he says, almost unforgivably loyal. 

“Stop looking at him like that,” Zabuza grumbles, without really any heat or warning in his voice. “He’s one of Hatake’s brats. Their third teammate.” 

Mei does stop looking at Haku, turning back to Zabuza. In the other room, Yoro and Shiku are trying to convince Chōjūrō to help them stack one bed on top of the other, and their childish voices filter through the thin walls much easier than Chōjūrō’s lower, more restrained tones. Mei does not like having to consider whether or not Zabuza is putting them in danger. 

Zabuza sighs. “We ran into their team in Land of Wave. They were on the other side of that contract to kill the bridge builder.” 

When Zabuza had come to the rebellion after securing Gatō Corps’ cooperation, he’d said the bridge builder had been too well-defended to make doing the hit for Gatō worth even attempting because of the Leaf team the bridge builder had hired. Mei isn’t surprised to find that there’s more to that story, but she hadn’t thought it would involve any _genin_. 

Haku drops to sit on the armrest of Zabuza’s chair. “We were concerned when we saw Naruto-kun wasn’t listed as an expected participant in the exam.” 

_Concerned_. About the fate of a foreign genin. At least the addition of Hatake Kakashi to the story makes sense: Mei might have bet on Zabuza in a fight against Sharingan no Kakashi, but only out of national pride and foolish loyalty. Hatake had been a legend since he was barely tall enough not to drown in a tide pool, and not the kind of notorious, horrifying stuff of legends that Zabuza had been as a child. No, he’d been a Konoha legend, the real kind of legendary that should have died out with the Warring Clans Era but regrettably had not. 

“It was their first mission,” Haku says. And that changes things. 

“A jōnin protecting three fresh genin, against the two of you? You should have been able to slaughter them,” Mei says. “It’s treasonous to knowingly leave an enemy you could defeat alive.” 

“The Yondaime wrote that one into the books,” Zabuza grumbles, “and we dragged that bastard out onto the ocean and put him out of our misery for a reason. Besides, you officially absolved me of all charges of treason.” 

“I could add a new charge.” 

Haku stiffens — he hasn’t quite learned to read her yet, and he’s very protective of his teacher — but Zabuza laughs. 

“You won’t.” Zabuza makes subtle motion at Haku to get the boy to stand down. “You don’t want me killing children.” 

Haku relaxes. He crosses one leg over the other and looks more at ease around Momochi Zabuza than anyone else Mei has ever seen. 

Their trust in each other continues to surprise Mei. It’s a side of Zabuza she never saw before he left Kiri. A side of him she would have sworn he didn’t have, just like his new belief that young ninja can be children. 

“Were Hatake’s other students complaining about third’s promotion?” Mei asks Haku. It would be incredibly poor information security for the genin to have actually been gossiping loudly enough for Haku to hear them from any significant distance, but there’s a great deal Mei doesn’t know about Haku — he might have information gathering techniques she doesn’t know about, held close to the chest in order to give him an edge. 

He tilts his head at her, the very picture of polite confusion. “No, Mei-sama. I asked Nara Shikako.” 

Incredulous, Mei repeats him: “You asked her.” 

Zabuza’s lips twitch, which might or might not be a bad sign. 

“When she and Uchiha Sasuke greeted me,” Haku explains, as if being greeted by foreign ninja is commonplace. “We ate dinner with them.” He waves a hand in the direction of the bedroom where the other genin are still hiding out, to indicate that they’d been invited too. In the other room, Yoro and Shiku are now repeating some long list of body parts and movements outloud, with Chōjūrō occasionally offering corrections. It must be some game to keep them busy; it’s not one that Mei recognizes but, well, they hadn’t had games when Mei was a girl, even if Zabuza had eased the pressure of graduation. 

“Shikako introduced me to Gaara of the Desert. And his siblings.” Haku pauses. “The Sand team was also eating with them.” 

Mei sits back in her seat. “Sand and Leaf should be on the edge of war.” Genin eating together wasn’t _necessarily_ a sign of upper-level politics, but the Leaf genin sent to this exam would be more or less the same ones who competed in the last exam and probably got caught up in Sand’s invasion. There’s really no reason for them to treat the Sand team as anything but deadly enemies, especially Sand’s jinchūriki. 

“They must have met that brat and gotten sucked in by one of his rants,” Zabuza grumbles. “Or the Nara. She’s worse.” 

“Naruto-kun is very persuasive,” Haku agrees. And then, like he’s confessing a secret, he says to Mei: “Zabuza-sama likes him a lot. He was impressed by Naruto-kun’s skill at the hidden mist jutsu.” 

“Shut up, the Uchiha’s my favorite. He causes the least trouble.” 

Haku laughs. “That,” he says, “is not how I remember them.” 

“Tell me everything you remember about them,” Mei says, before they can actually start squabbling like children. “And everything that happened over your shared meal.” 

Zabuza grimaces. “We should start with Hatake. He’ll be here.” 

Yes, Mei supposes that if Zabuza had gotten close enough to Hatake’s students to teach one of them a jutsu, he would have gotten close enough to learn something real about the man himself. “Oh, is Sharingan no Kakashi your friend, too?” 

The idea is as bizarre as it is hilarious: Mei hadn’t thought Zabuza _or_ Hatake were capable of friendship, but she’s learned all kinds of things about Zabuza recently. 

“Start with Hatake, then,” Mei orders, and Zabuza does. 


End file.
